Venezuelan LPG Cargo Heads to Mediterranean For First Time in 7 Years

A vessel laden with liquefied petroleum gas (LPG) has departed Venezuela and is scheduled to cross the Atlantic to discharge in the Mediterranean during early November, the first such cargo since January 2019, according to data from shipping analytics provider Vortexa.

The Handysize gas carrier Alkaid, laden with around 12,000 metric tons of butane, is current en route across the Atlantic after loading at the Jose Terminal in Venezuela in late September. The vessel is currently scheduled to discharge in Turkey on Nov. 2, Vortexa data showed.

This would be only the second Venezuelan cargo to cross the Atlantic bound for the Mediterranean since January 2016. The only other cargo was aboard the Midsize Gas Carrier (MGC) Permian Lady which discharged a 22,000 mt butane cargo at Tanger-Mediterranean and Jorf Lasfar in Morocco in late January 2019.

LPG exports from Venezuela have ramped up significantly this year with shipments reaching 109,000 mt in the first ten months of 2026. Comparatively, shipments totaled 5,800 mt in 2025 and 32,400 mt in 2023. There were no shipments made in 2024.

Export volumes have not been this high since 2018 when the country shipped 151,000 mt.

The resumption of exports came after the U.S. administration captured President Nicolas Maduro on Jan. 3 and promised to stimulate Venezuela’s oil and gas industry. Venezuela’s acting president, Delcy Rodríguez, then announced the country’s first LPG export contract in a statement on Jan. 16.

Reporting by Jamie Aldridge, jaldridge@opisnet.com; Editing by Rob Sheridan, rsheridan@opisnet.com